Box Score WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Jenny Horvatinovic (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion Area) scored 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and Sarah Olson (Freehold, N.J./Howell [NJIT]) hit five three-pointers as the Monmouth University women's basketball team ran past Colgate, 82-62, Saturday afternoon at the Multipurpose Activity Center. With the win in Monmouth's last game prior to final exams, the Hawks improve to 5-4, while the Raiders fall to 1-8.

Horvatinovic also added a game-high four steals. Jamiyah Bethune (Union, N.J./Union [Penn State]) contributed a season-high 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go along with five rebounds, three assists and three steals in an efficient 22 minutes. Helena Kurt (Spanga, Sweden/Igelstavikens Gymnasium) also finished in double figures with 12 points and a game-high six assists. Jasmine Walker (North Brunswick, N.J./North Brunswick) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Monmouth shot a season-high 52.3 percent (34-65) from the floor, including 41.7 percent (10-24) from long range.

Josie Stockill led Colgate with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds to go along with a game-high three blocks. Randyll Butler narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points, nine rebounds and a team-high four assists. Monmouth held Carole Harris, Colgate's leading scorer entering the game at 12.9 points per contest, to just four points on 1-of-12 shooting.

“You'd like to go into finals on a high note,” said Monmouth Head Coach Jenny Palmateer. “We're going to try to stay intense in practice, but let's face it. They're going to need some time in the books. This was our fifth game in 12 days with a lot of travel and some really early mornings. I'm really happy that we were able to play close to a 40-minute game. Everybody that came off the bench was ready to go, which I think really helped us. And that's something that we've been able to do all along the way, which is why I think we still had some legs and we looked fairly fresh and were still able to keep the pace of play up and get after it on the defensive end.”

After Colgate scored four of the first six points, Monmouth surged ahead with 10 of the next 12, including a pair of Olson three-pointers. Following a second-chance bucket by Butler, Monmouth went on a 12-0 run, capped by Horvatinovic's jumper off a Kurt no-look pass, to take a 24-8 lead with 11:35 left in the half. Following a Steph Poland putback, Kurt gave Monmouth its largest lead of the half, 28-10, on a four-point play with 10:20 left in the period.  

Colgate gradually battled back to within 11 points on Stockill's lay-up at the 1:55 mark. But Horvatinovic's three from the top of the arc with 23 seconds left gave Monmouth a 42-28 lead at the half. The 42 points are the most in a first half for the Hawks this season, besting their 41-point first half at LIU Brooklyn on Nov. 20.

Olson led Monmouth with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from long range in the first half. Horvatinovic added 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the floor, including a conversion on her only three-point attempt. Kurt also added nine points and six assists. Stockill led Colgate with nine points and four rebounds, while Katie Curtis added seven points. Butler also chipped in with six points and four rebounds.

Colgate immediately scored the first five points of the second half to cut the Hawks' lead back down to nine. The lead swelled back up to 13 on a transition three from Olson and reached 14 on a driving lay-up by Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa./Pittston Area). A Horvatinovic jumper off a give-and-go with Hopkins pushed Monmouth's lead to 59-43 with 10:25 left to play. Colgate three-pointers by Butler and Kateri Stone whittled the deficit to 10 points. But the Raiders would draw no closer.

Monmouth's lead jumped to as many as 21 points, 75-54, on Bethune's lay-up off a fast-break led by Rachel Odumu (Manassas, Va./Miller School of Albemarle) with 3:52 remaining.  

For the game, Monmouth outshot Colgate, 52.3 percent (34-65) to 32.9 percent (24-73) from the floor, including a 41.7 percent (10-24) to 27.3 percent (6-22) advantage from long range. Colgate edged Monmouth from the free-throw line, 66.7 percent (8-12) to 44.4 percent (4-9) and took a 51-35 cushion on the boards. Monmouth took a 24-14 edge in points off turnovers, forcing the Raiders to cough up the ball 24 times in the game. Colgate took a 17-4 advantage in second-chance points.

The Hawks return to non-conference action following an eight-day break for finals on Dec. 21, when they play host to intrastate foe Princeton. Tipoff from the Multipurpose Activity Center is slated for 2 p.m.